The general secretaries of three of Italy's leading trade unions – Cgil, Cisl and Uil – have written to prime minister Matteo Renzi to call for an acceleration of the development of the country's broadband network "on which Italy's recovery depends". In the letter the unions urge Renzi to support the deployment of the next generation network through measures such as the recapitalisation of Telecom Italia and the intervention of the state-backed holding company Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). However, according to the unions, the spin-off of Telecom Italia's fixed network is not the way forward because it would be tantamount to "expropriating a property" from a private company, while the second possibility of leaving it all to the markets is equally unpalatable because "in practice this would mean giving a free reign to Telefonica."

In this regard, the unions express their concern that Telefonica’s increased presence in Telecom Italia is “simply a financial operation rather than an industrial one” and that allowing Telefonica to effectively merge with Telecom Italia would create a highly indebted group unable to invest in new technologies which would be a disaster for Italy, potentially affecting 45,000 workers.

The general secretaries of three of Italy's leading trade unions – Cgil Cisl and Uil – have written to prime minister Matteo Renzi to call for an acceleration of the development of the country's broadband network